Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. Decreases Stock Position in The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS)

Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. decreased its stake in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS) by 25.8% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 950 shares of the investment management company’s stock after selling 330 shares during the quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A.’s holdings in The Goldman Sachs Group were worth $311,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of GS. Tower View Investment Management & Research LLC purchased a new position in The Goldman Sachs Group in the fourth quarter valued at $27,000. Elequin Securities LLC purchased a new position in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group in the 4th quarter valued at about $32,000. NewSquare Capital LLC increased its holdings in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 3,433.3% in the 1st quarter. NewSquare Capital LLC now owns 106 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $35,000 after acquiring an additional 103 shares during the last quarter. Worth Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group during the 1st quarter worth about $33,000. Finally, Boulder Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in The Goldman Sachs Group during the fourth quarter worth approximately $39,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 69.06% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on GS. Societe Generale downgraded shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, July 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $415.00 to $398.00 in a research report on Friday, July 7th. StockNews.com initiated coverage on The Goldman Sachs Group in a report on Thursday, August 17th. They set a “hold” rating on the stock. Morgan Stanley reissued an “equal weight” rating and issued a $347.00 target price (up from $337.00) on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group in a research report on Friday, July 21st. Finally, Credit Suisse Group reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $410.00 price target on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group in a research report on Thursday, July 20th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, The Goldman Sachs Group has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $395.63.

The Goldman Sachs Group Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE GS traded down $0.47 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $327.24. 426,396 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,484,223. The company has a quick ratio of 0.81, a current ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.18. The firm has a market cap of $107.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 1.39. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $333.50 and a 200-day simple moving average of $333.76. The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. has a 1-year low of $287.75 and a 1-year high of $389.58.

The Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE:GS) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 19th. The investment management company reported $3.08 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $3.25 by ($0.17). The Goldman Sachs Group had a return on equity of 8.27% and a net margin of 9.74%. The firm had revenue of $10.90 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.61 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $7.73 EPS. The firm’s revenue was down 8.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. will post 25.74 EPS for the current fiscal year.

The Goldman Sachs Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 28th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 31st will be issued a $2.75 dividend. This represents a $11.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.36%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, August 30th. This is a positive change from The Goldman Sachs Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.50. The Goldman Sachs Group’s payout ratio is currently 42.66%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO David M. Solomon sold 4,200 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $356.28, for a total value of $1,496,376.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 124,782 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $44,457,330.96. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, major shareholder Goldman Sachs Group Inc sold 9,000,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $11.73, for a total transaction of $105,570,000.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 51,676,439 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $606,164,629.47. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO David M. Solomon sold 4,200 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $356.28, for a total transaction of $1,496,376.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 124,782 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $44,457,330.96. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 10,159,686 shares of company stock worth $123,960,027. Company insiders own 0.54% of the company’s stock.

About The Goldman Sachs Group

The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc, a financial institution, provides a range of financial services for corporations, financial institutions, governments, and individuals worldwide. It operates through Global Banking & Markets, Asset & Wealth Management, and Platform Solutions segments. The Global Banking & Markets segment provides financial advisory services, including strategic advisory assignments related to mergers and acquisitions, divestitures, corporate defense activities, restructurings, and spin-offs; and relationship lending, and acquisition financing, as well as secured lending, through structured credit and asset-backed lending and involved in resale agreements.